A TASTE OF WALES

Another chilly day caused me to trawl through my soup and stew recipes for inspiration,after much rummaging I came across a recipe for Cawl, pronounce caul. Welsh in origin it is a hearty top cooked stew just right for a day of changeable weather


having spent a good deal of time in Wales both north and south I found that the meat used varies from place e to place, the best cawl I ever ate was at a modest road side restaurant at Wolfs Castle in Pembrokeshire where both lamb and gammon were used. My recipe contains only gammon but any stewing cut can be substituted for this.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Welsh dinner and I even had the correct cutlery in the form of wooden Cawl spoons, not very easy to eat with but picturesque and great fun.
CAWL

2lb Gammon hock,neck of lamb or a combination of both

1 small swede

2 carrots

1lb potatoes

2 leeks

1oz fresh parsley

A good handful of chopped greens

salt and pepper
Place the meat in a large saucepan and cover with water,add salt and pepper. Bring slowly to the boil and skim carefully. Add the chopped carrot,swede and the whites of the leeks and simmer for 2 hours. Add chopped potatoes and simmer for a further half hour. Thicken with flour and water than add the chopped greens the leek greens and the parsley. Simmer for fifteen minutes. Serve hot.

Cawl is even more tasty if it is made the day before you need it and then re heated.
I harvested some of our own potatoes for the cawl, they were small but healthy and very tasty indeed

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